What If There Was Another Way

According to a Gallup Poll in 2020, the United States is broken down into three political categories. 41% of us are registered as Independent (NPA), 31% of us are registered as Democrats, and 25% of us are registered as Republican. Now obviously, for anyone in the first two categories, it probably seems peculiar (and ultimately enraging) that the smallest party is often the loudest party, or that the smallest party runs more states and has more seats in more legislatures than the other two categories of American voters. But that’s not really what I wanted to address here. For just a moment–an imaginary moment, if you will–I was wondering what the United States would look like if our politics weren’t run by two polarizing parties, but rather, by the major categories of our occupations.

If, for example, my voter card declared me a member of the Education Block, and my wife was declared a member of the Accounting/Business Block, and those in retail or hospitality were declared members of the Service Block, what would that look like in practicality? No doubt my goals are different from others in education, as would be those of my wife compared to her colleagues, but then again, so would the platforms of our so-called occupational parties. In other words, if I voted my conscience on issues that mattered to me personally, but voted as a member of the Education Block, my association or my “party” may advocate for issues that expand beyond my personal interests and that would be okay. At times I might agree with them. At times I might not. But there wouldn’t be anything wrong with standing on my own, independent of my occupational stance.

This would also open up a bigger space for discussion on issues that serve the people in our blocks, rather than our platforms. Health care. Marriage. Abortion. Voting Rights. All those issues wouldn’t become such blatant, such hot or cold positions, if they were rooted in real people with real vocations, represented by leaders who speak on their behalf, not as a party with arbitrary and (dare I say, religious) standards, but needs that fit a specific population or audience of workers.

So why would this matter? Why not just stick to the two parties at hand? Well, for one, the system we have right now doesn’t work and we all know it. What we have and what we’ve been dealing with for two centuries breeds nothing more than hate. We’ve got a fantastic Constitution that set the bar for nations around the world. Ours is (or at least was) the model. But neither party seems to know what good government is. And neither party can ever get past trying to win the next election or the last election. It’s awful and disgusting, with most party members believing the other is evil and teaching their children just as much. That can’t be healthy, productive, or well, civil. But I can tell you that if the “block” or “party” that someone else fits had a different idea or plan for something that needs to happen, I’d be more likely to hear them out and less likely to despise them, because as a body of the employed, I recognize my larger need for their existence.

In our recent wanderings of Switzerland, we learned very quickly that local government was what mattered most to the Swiss. Cantons filled with people who come out to vote only when the decisions have to do with their immediate, community, and village concerns. Yes, there’s a wider president, but that individual merely represents the country’s Federal Assembly, and that individual is only president for a year. One year, my friends, and he/she is selected out of that same elected Federal Assembly. There’s simply zero obsession, zero worry, zero concern over who wins in 2024, 2028, or hell, 3000. No one cares. They just focus on living their lives and letting others live theirs. And generally speaking, Switzerland ranks in the Top Five or Top Ten nations to live. The United States hovers somewhere around #15, which isn’t awful, but we’re always stressed out about the next election (and apparently, the last one as well). Not to mention, if you ask most Americans who their mayor is, who their city council members are, what issues are most pressing in their community, there’s a good chance they’ll fumble around for an answer.

So now I return to the question of occupational parties. This was an idea that once got tossed around in Austria but ultimately failed. What are the pros and cons of abandoning our current two-party system and adopting parties based on the profession where you’re employed (as well as a party for those without a profession or employment)? I’ll leave that up to you and the possibility of discussion. At this point, I’m just spit balling ideas. Because there has to be a better way than what we’ve got and how we deal with our politics right now.